Burner construction



Oct. 11, 1938. J. T. VOORHEIS BURNER CONSTRUCTION Filed Dec. 26, 1934 2 Shee'ts-Sheet l 0/ 711. CUM

firroe/vfr Oct. 11, 1938. .1. T. VOORHEIS 2,132,521

BURNER CONSTRUCTION Filed Dec. 26, 1934 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Wyn/r02 L/OJEPH 7C VOOEHE/S 19 7 ram/[y Patented Oct. 11, 1938 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE BURNER CONSTRUCTION Joseph T. Voorheis, San Francisco-,Calif. Application December 26, 1934, Serial No. 759,211

2 Claim.

This invention relates to a fuel burner and particularly pertains to a combined gas and oil burner of the forced or natural draft type.

It is the principal object of the present invention to provide a fuel burner which is designed for simultaneous or separate combustion of liquid and gaseous fuels, and which burner is provided with a conveniently constructed segmental gas burner adapted to afford maximum heat radiation, thereby preventing rapid destruction of the burner, said burner segments being mounted in a manner to permit them to be independently removed, the construction being further provided with new and novel air control and air directing means.

The present invention contemplates the provision of a burner housing carrying draft regulating means by which a plurality of jets of air may be admitted circumferentially of the housing in controlled direction and volumefthe structure including burner sections having cooling skirts which form an inlet throat for the air, the air passing through a furnace throat of particular design acting to mix the combustible elements thoroughly as they pass into the furnace.

The invention is illustrated by way of example in the accompanying drawings in which:

Figure'l is a view in end elevation showing the face of the burner with which the present invention is concerned with parts broken away to disclose the vane operating mechanism.

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary view in transverse section through the vane structure and the burner housing as seen on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary view showing the air vanes and their operating mechanism with the vanes closed.

Fig. 4 is a view in central vertical section through theburner structure as seen on the line 4-4 of Fig. 1, but with the gas supply pipe added and with which a suitable oil burner not shown in the drawings may be used.

Fig. 5 is an enlarged fragmentary view in elevation showing one of the burner segments as seen on the line 5-5 of Fig. 4.

Fig. 6 is a view in transverse section through one of the burner segments as seen on the line 6-6 of Fig. 5 and as showing the manner in which the segments are connected with the gas manifold.

Fig. '7 is a view in end elevation showing the furnace throat and more clearly disclosing one form of baflle ribs formed as a part thereof.

Referring more particularly to the drawings,

I0 indicates a wall of a furnace having a Venturi shaped throat structure II. This is usually cast of fire clay and is here shown as being formed with a plurality of longitudinally extending ribs [3 which are tapered in thickness 5 and increased in thickness and width toward the enlarged edge of the throat opening l4. Mounted against the outer vertical face I5 of the furnace wall It! is a segmental gas burner ring 16. This ring is formed of three segments as here shown, 10 one of the segments being indicated in elevation at Fig. 5 of the drawings. Here it will be seen that the burner ring it comprises an arcuate hollow element ll having a front wall 18, a rear wall l9, and end walls 20. As shown in Fig. 4 of the drawings the front wall I8 of the burner ring I6 is continued outwardly in the form of an apron 2| which is cast integral herewith and forms a continuation of the air inlet throat l4. The outer flaring edge of the apron- 2| is circum- 20 scribed by an annular gas ring 22 which is formed with three openings 23, one for each of the segments of ring I6. These openings are in the inner wall of the gas ring 22 and communicate with passageways 24 formed in the rear of the 25 skirt of each segment, and leading to the arcuate gas space 25 of each of the segments. The inner wall l8 of each of the segments is formed with a plurality of inclined gas jet openings 26 through which gas is projected into the throat 30 I4 in a converging cone. The gas is supplied from the ring 22 through the passageways 24 and a gas tight connection is made between these members by fastening bolts 21 which engage ears 28 on the segments and pass through the gas 35 ring 22 in the manner shown in Fig. 6 of the drawings. It will be seen that due to the manner in which the gas ring is formed in segments and mounted within the circumscribing ring it may be readily assembled or separated, and that 40 during operation the relatively thin wall of the flaring skirt 2! would tend to materially increase the heat radiating surface of each of the separate segments and maintain them at an operating temperature which is not liable to cause 45 them to burn readily due to the intense heat generated by the burner. Gaseous fuel is delivered to the gas ring 22 through a pipe 29, the flow being controlled by a valve 30.

The g s ring 22 is mounted against the face of 50 a sheet etal wall 3| of the furnace and is suitably secured thereto. Mounted upon the gas ring is an air control and regulating structure 38 by which ir is directed into the throat of the burner and/ y which its volume and division of its jets 55 are controlled. This structure comprises an outer wall member 34 held in spaced relation to the ring 22 by bolts 35. These bolts are suitably fastened to the gas ring and extend horizontally'therefrom. The outer ends of the bolts 35 project through a face plate 36 and are held in place by nuts 31. The wall member 34 is spaced a distance from the end face of the gas ring 22 and provides an annular throat 39 through which air may move radially and inwardly to the throat through the gas burner. Disposed between the vertical face of the gas ring 22 and the wall member 34 is a plurality of damper plates 39 each mounted to oscillate on pins 40. These plates are made of flexible steel and swing between the faces 4| and 42, as particularly shown in Fig. 2 of the drawings. The outer ends of each of the hinge pins 43 are fitted with gear segments 43, all of which segments are in mesh with a ring gear 44. The ring gear may move circumferentially upon pins 45 and when moved will simultaneously swing all of the plates 39. One of the hinge pins 46, as indicated in Fig. 1 at a, extends through the plate 46 and is there fitted with a lever 41. This lever is adapted to oscillate over the face of a quadrant 48 and is fitted with a pin 49 which may be brought to register with one of a series of perforations 50 in the quadrant whereby the gear segments 43 and the ring gear 44 may be set in a desired position. By this arrangement the vanes 39 may be simultaneously moved to vary the openings occuring between the different vanes and also to vary the direction of these openings from one in which air is directed radially of the structure to positions where the passageways assume different degrees of angularity with relation to the longitudinal axis of the burner throat. In fact the lever 41 may be moved until the various vanes 39 assume positions shown in Fig. 3 where they will be flexed against the next adjacent plate pin in overlapping relation to close the air inlet throat completely. The member 46 carries a central ring 51 which is angle shaped in cross section, the outer angular flange lying against the member 46 and being secured by bolts 45. The opposite flange portion of the ring 5| extends inwardly and is formed with a bead 52 to receive the marginal edge 53 of a center deflecting cone 54. This cone projects inwardly having a flaring skirt 55 adapted to provide a curved substantially conical face by which air flowing inwardly through the passageway 33 may be directed from a vertical direction of travel to a horizontal one through the throat. A central hub 56 is formed as a part of the member 54 and receives a pipe 51 through which a liquid fuel burner may be inserted. The inner opened end of the pipe 51 terminates within the area circumscribed by the annular gas ring and the oil burner when in use will project a conical stream of oil horizontally through the throat of the gas ring and the throat l4 of the furnace. A diffusing cone 59 is mounted around the inner end of the pipe 51 and flares outwardly therefrom. The outer end of this cone is open. Its side wall is formed with perforations 63 through which air may pass and help support combustion of liquid fuel and prevent formation of carbon within cone 59.

In operation of the present invention the segments l6 of the gas burner are assembled within the ring 22 and secured in position by the bolts 21. Suitably mounted in spaced relation to the ring 22 is a plate 34 combining therewith to form an air throat 39. The oil burner supporting tube 51 is mounted through the member 54 with its inner end projecting into the throat of the gas ring. When the burner is used with gas as a fuel it is delivered to the ring 22 through the pipe 29 and then to the various gas segments, and then is discharged from the separate rings through the jet openings 26. The jets of gas will then be projected forwardly into the throat l4 and along paths converging toward the central axis of the throat. Air will pass inwardly through the air throat 33 between members 22 and 34 and due to the angular positions of the blades 39 disposed in the path of travel of the air. The air will tend to follow helical paths of travel through the gas burner and through the throat l4. By this arrangement the air will tend to intersect the jets of gas projected from the openings 26 and will insure that a flow of air will be provided moving inwardly through the throat to support combustion of the gas uniformly. It will also be evident that in the helical travel of the air through the throat l4 the outermost portion of the column of air will strike the ridges l3 of the throat and will tend to be directed back into the vortex of burning fuel. Attention is directed to the fact that the lip of the throat i4 farthest from the gas burner is formed with a horizontal portion 13 which will arrest the flow of air outwardly along the surface of the throat, and divert it back into the flame of burning fuel. The air which flows through the throat 33 will be divided into inwardly moving jets by the air control plates 39. The volume of this air may be controlled by movement of the free ends of the plates toward the pivoted ends of the next succeeding plates. In this manner the tangential relationship of the inflowing air jets may be controlled with regard to the longitudinal axis of the burner. In the event that it is-desired to close the throat 33 completely against the inward passage of air the plates 39 may be swung to overlapping positions as shown in Fig. 3. These plates are manipulated by the lever 41 which is set with relation to the stop quadrant 48. As the burner becomes heated it will be evident that the segments 15 forming the ring will be raised to a high degree of temperature. Under ordinary operation of such a burner these rings are of relatively short life due to this temperature, but in the present instance the skirts 2| of the ring segments provide additional heat radiation surfaces so that the segments will be maintained at a relatively low temperature, thus protecting the sections, increasing their life, preventing warping of the sections, and at the same time providing a proper throat through which the air may flow into the furnace.

When the burner is used with oil as a fuel the end of an oil burner or atomizer projects through tube 51 into cone 59 and an atomized conical spray of oil is projected through Venturi throat I 4 into the furnace. The conical spray of oil has its apex at or near the inner end of tube 59 and the conical spray of oil just clears the fire clay throat l4. Air for combustion is supplied in the same manner as described for gas fuel, and in both cases results in intimate mixing of fuel and air with quick combustion.-

While I have shown the preferred form of my invention, as now known to me, it will be understood that various changes may be made in the combination, construction, and arrangement of parts, by those skilled in the art, without de parting from the spirit of. the invention as claimed.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In combination with a furnace wall having an outwardly flaring throat therethrough of circular cross-section, a supplemental burner throat element abutting against the wall and registering with the throat through the wall in the plane of smallest diameter of the throat,said burner throat element flaring outwardly and away from the wall, a burner housing circumscribing the burner throat and directing air into said throat at the margin thereof whereby incoming air will be directed from the burner throat element to the small diameter of the throat through the furnace wall and the air will tend to cross the throat as it passes into the furnace and will tend to flow outwardly across the throat and against the wall thereof, and ribs formed on the portion of the throat within the furnace wall and having inclined side faces whereby said air after striking the wall and ribs will be directed inwardly toward the central axis of the throat.

2. In combination with a furnace wall having a flaring throat therethrough of circular crosssection, the large diameter of said throat being within the furnace and a supplemental burner throat element abutting against the wall and registering with the small diameter of the throat through the wall, said burner throat element flaring outwardly and away from the wall whereby incoming air will be directed from the burner throat element to the small diameter of the throat hrough the furnace wall, a burner housing circumscribing the mouth of the supplemental throat and directing air thereinto over the margin thereof whereby the air will tend to cross the throat as it passes into the furnace, ribs extending longitudinally along the wall of the throat within the furnace wall, said ribs exending from the small diameter of the throat and increasing in thickness and in width towards the large diameter of the throat through the furnace wall. the section of the ribs presenting a curved face merging into the wall surface along oppositely curved fillets, whereby said air encountering said ribs will be directed inwardly toward the central axis of the throat.

-- JOSEPH T. VOORHEIS. 

